Two Sides of A Coin
by Grunt9073
Summary: Set in the Archie Comics. This story follows two people within their lives and how they intertwine with the people around them.
1. Chapter 1

EGGREPORT

XX-XX-XXXX

MISSION STATUS: FAILED

-Presence of chaos energy detected at secure underground facility.

-Satellite imagery shows rebel group 'Freedom Fighters' approaching source of chaos energy.

-Source of chaos energy presumed to be a Chaos Emerald.

-Interception of 'Freedom Fighters' deployed.

-UNITS DEPLOYED-

20x - EGG PAWN

25x - BUZZBOMBER

15x - EGG FIGHTER

10x - MOTOBUG

-CASUALTIES-

19x - EGG PAWN

10x - BUZZBOMBER

14x - EGG FIGHTER

10x - MOTOBUG

2x - MOBIANS

1x - Black panther

Current status: PRESUMED ALIVE

Last seen admitted to local hospital.

1x - Condor

Current status: PRESUMED DEAD

Eggman found this report when reviewing the location of the seven chaos emeralds. He could not place down a feeling about this one report, perhaps it was the two people located there in some underground facility. From the video feed that his units recorded, it showed that the facility had some form of of security, automated turrets, personnel, and lastly robots.

'Even if those robots were not as capable as mine, they had to be hiding something,' Eggman thought to himself as he peered onto the screen before him.

He then heard a ringtone. He answered the phone call, hoping it would be something good.

"Hello sir!" a cheery voice began, Eggman could not help but smile.

Oh how he waited for this…

"I am pleased to announce that the wager matches are to begin in two days!" the voice continued.

"As you may know the conditions of the wager matches, please verify that you meet all of the conditions of the head maiden so that the maiden will be pleased to work for you. Please have a nice day!" the voice spoke for the final time before dropping the call.

Now Eggman sat back, ' Oh how I wanted to have a maid!' he thought while beaming madly. Sure he had many subordinates, but there was one problem.

None of them were nearby.

He had Cubot and Orbot at his disposal, but one was annoying while the other sassy. He did not like that. If he only had a maid, someone who will do anything he commanded, all while carrying a smile on their face.

"Orbot! Cubot! Message the Eggbosses to gather at my base immediately!"

"Yes sir!" the robot duo responded, after turning around they started to whisper to one another.

"What do you think this is all about?" said the box of yellow,

"Who knows? It's probably the project he was going on about," the sphere of red whispered back. "For all we know, it could be anything."

A sigh, then followed by another. These sighs belonged to none other that the Freedom Fighters leader, Sally Acorn. The chipmunk had her fist supporting her cheek as she looked out one of the many windows on the Sky Patrol. Her thoughts on one of the many battles she had with her group. Ranging from saving locals, collecting Chaos Emeralds, battling Eggman's forces, the list simply goes on.

"Hey Sal," she turned her head to the speaker,

"I'm fine Sonic, I swear I am," the hedgehog was not wearing his famous grin, having swapped that for a worried look.

"Look Sal, if you need to say something we're here for you."

"Fine, get everyone to the table, this thing has been on my mind for a while now," as she got up from her position to get to the meeting point.

A moment later, when everyone was at the table.

"I have something to announce to you all," Sally began, "Its about that one Chaos Emerald we found in that facility."

"Ya mean that one place with those bots and guns?" the southern belle known as Bunnie spoke.

"Yes Bunnie, that one, that place has been on my mind for quite some time after the incident with Eggman's forces. Don't you think that the security there was just a bit too high?"

"Well Sally, they were guarding a Chaos Emerald," the AI, Nicole answered,

"You know, a source of infinite energy?" the purple walrus, Rotor continued for Nicole.

"I mean, yeah but what about the guy we found on the ground?" Sally replied, "Why was he there, and were there any others?"

"He could have been a scientist working there," Nicole suggested, " I don't think scientists would wear scrubs Nicole," Sonic shot back.

"What if… What if he was an experiment...of some kind?" Tails proposed, a silence fell upon them, " That could very well be the case Tails, but if that is the case then, what sort of experiment was it?" Sally pondered, wearing the same worried expression as everyone else.

"Should we go back and investigate?" Tails said with a shaky voice, "If we do, we'll need to track down that guy. The only question is, where?" Sally said as she turned her head to the window.

"Heh! Where isn't the issue here Sal, not when you have the likes of me around! The only thing is, is he okay?" Sonic answered, while he put his hand on her shoulder.


	2. Chapter 2

Somewhere, in a white room, a pair of eyes opened, and with it came panic, fear, desolation, and most importantly disorientation.

"Where am I?" was uttered before a sharp burning sensation was felt, on his right eye. Producing a hissing sound from the pain, the figure made sure to leave a mental note to keep this eye closed. He then heard noises, voices, he looked around. From where he was at he saw curtains and machinery with pipes coming to his arms.

"I must be in some sort of hospital" the figure mumbled to himself, as he started to sit up on his bed. He decided that it would be a good time to start blinking his right eye, at first it was rapid then he slowed down until his eye adapted to his surroundings.

"I guess I gotta get up and find out where I am," he slowly used his arms to prop himself upward. After achieving a proper sitting posture he started to swing his legs off the bed and slowly started to put his weight on them, he would alternate between being on them and on the bed. In one push he got on both feet, in a mini scramble he regained his balance on his very own two feet.

"Now, for the hard part, walking." he said as he scooted his right foot to the right, with his left following up on it,

"Baby steps now, baby steps," he continued to scoot along, trying to lift his feet up with every step he took. He managed to reach the wall before losing his balance, with his hands outward he caught himself and held there for about 5 minutes, catching his breath, before starting to walk once more. The room he was in was pretty long, but not very wide so he had to take a walk to reach the window on his left side. When he got to window he got used to his condition and started to walk more normally. He peered out of the window, he saw a nighttime coastal village, apparently he had the best view of the village, he was able to see all the lights, roads, and the houses that littered the view before seeing the port and the ocean under the grand moon.

"What a pretty place, shame that I have to leave it, for now," he muttered, as he started to lift the window up, he soon felt a breeze it him.

"Maybe I should get some new duds now," he propped himself up on the window frame eyeing a roof to jump to from the window sill. The roof he saw belonged to a clothing store, "Well that's convenient. Hope I could find some good stuff there," he prepped his stance for the jump.

With the all the power he could muster, he jumped. Now while in mid-air, he soon realized he was too low, too slow. Now filled with fear he closed his eyes, bracing for the hard impact of the solid ground, except, it never came. He opened his eyes and found out he was on the roof of the store.

'Did I just do that?' he thought to himself, he looked up at the sill and started to concentrate. He furrowed his brows while closing his eyes, he then leaped as he opened them, and lo and behold, he was on the window sill. Now having a wide, opened grin he repeated the steps in an attempt to 'jump' back down. Now filled with a new found joy as he discovered a new technique he decided to name this new ability the 'Jet Step'.

"Now for the real test of the Jet Step," he prepared himself for the leap, when he did it, he found himself in the closed clothing store, although quite drained from the the leaps he made before, he then tried to shake it off as he went around looking for some clothes. He then encounters a full body mirror, now looking at it, he went over his appearance: black fur, shoulder length dreads that were tipped an emerald green, a white pullover hoodie that was sleeveless which had a claw like design, he had on shoes that were the same shade of green as his dread tips. He then noticed his eyes were different colors, his right purple while his left was it's usual gold color.

"Huh, didn't know I had this," when leaning in to see it better, a necklace fell from the collar of the hoodie, his eyes widened upon seeing it.

"My family, my clan, I have to find them!"

He ran out the store's doors and started running, he didn't care where, as long as he found anything about them, that is when he will stop. He looked around in a fury, seeing monsters forming from the dark in purple puffs, they started to chase him as he ran down the roads.

'I don't have the time for this,' he thought to himself as he kept running.

He then saw the ocean coming up, with it he saw a swarm of those monsters fighting with a ship that was leaving port, he heard gunshots go off in the distance.

'People! I have to get to them!' he continued to run past the posts, soon to be encountering the mob of monsters ahead of him. The monsters turned to him and started charging at him, mouths wide, ready to bite any victim in their direction. The panther soon found himself leaping over some while jumping on others doing all that he can to maneuver around the mob that was preventing him from reaching that boat. By the time he was on the dock the boat was far from reachable.

'I won't let anything, ANYTHING! Stand in my way!' With a new found burst of energy he continued to run, his rage blinding any logic he had within, he started to run towards the ship… while being on the water.

For the next 7 minutes he continued to run on the water, from this point he will be able to reach it, except that the boat in question has now sped up to a faster pace.

He was beginning to tire out from the running, 'I have to take this gamble!' In a desperate attempt to reach the ship he jet stepped, only to find the boat's railing in front of him. He swiped his hands to grab the rail, his fingers just barely grabbing onto the rail. Then his weight followed, the load was too much to bear for his fingers as they slipped and he fell.

'I didn't make it, I… I've failed them' was the only thought in his mind as he fell down, bracing for the water's and death's cold embrace, and yet, neither of those came as he crashed onto a hard wooden surface, he was facing upwards he saw the ship's crew look over the rail he just slipped on, pulling him up, he wished he saw their faces before his vision faded to black.


	3. Chapter 3

There was once a long hall with clean, white, marble pillars adorning each side. Humming could be heard echoing off of the walls. On every third pillar there was a symbol that belonged to the owner of the property that hall belonged to. The symbol was a hexagon under a droplet of golden color that has wings sprouting out from each side. This symbol represented the entire kingdom of the combined species of wasps and bees. The kingdom was the home to the largest export of all honey-related products in the entire world, boasting the largest factories and refineries for all of the products they produce. The kingdom itself was quite the view, having a foundation focused entirely on a hexagonal grid pattern, they were able to build skyscrapers of yellow and gold and other glamourous buildings. The rulers of the kingdom belonged to a queen wasp, and her only daughter. The queen felt that she should hire a maid, though not just any maid, she wanted only the best for her daughter which came in the form of the Head Maiden. The Head Maiden hailed from a private maid company that supplied maids of all sizes for any occasion. The company ranked their maids within four ranks: Maid, Head Maid, Maiden, and finally Head Maiden. With Head Maiden being the best there was in any and all activities, the queen decided that going through the trouble of acquiring the Head Maiden's contract was worth it. In the end, maidens were trained to do anything a master would order them to do.

Now within the maid wing, there were many maids frantically going about from sorting curtains, uniforms, and relaying one important message: "The Head Maiden is coming!" in hushed whispers to one another. When having made sure that all that could be sorted is sorted the door handle that lead to the only entrance of the maid wing shook.

Everyone immediately froze, and started to line up from both sides of the door leading to the door of the dorms. When the door opened every maid in the formation bowed down properly.

"Good Morning, Head Maiden!:" everyone greeted at the same time,

"Oh, my a good morning to you all too" was the reply, "Please do carry on, I must carry out a task set by me from the Queen herself," soon the formation of maids broke apart as each maid set out to do their tasks. The Head Maiden began a brisk walk to the dorms, despite being the most important and highest ranking of the maids, she realized she had a walk to do as her dorm is at the back of the maid wing.

With every step she took her chin length bob cut, with quite large bangs that covered her eyes, bounced up and down, but not enough to expose anymore than what was already exposed. She had on her maid uniform, which was frilly, poofy, and sported long sleeves and skirt. Her white apron having it's strings tied in an elegant bow on her back. On top of her hair was the usual maid headband, except that it was wider and broad, a trait that signified her rank. The maiden also had a habit of altering her uniform to the traits of her master, so the uniform was a yellow-orange color with hexagons in a darker yellow scheme, with the symbols of the kingdom on her shoulders and headband which was comprised of metallic prongs that shaped out the semi-circle headband in hexagons.

Despite the alterations, she felt alienated in a sea of bee and wasp maids, which wore similar uniforms, and went about their day in a similar fashion.

'It must be because I have a beak and they don't,' she thought to herself sadly, it was true that she was of avian descent, a condor of all birds with her curved beak sticking out in front of her face making her stand out amongst the maids, amid vultures, she was a freak having black feathers on her head while her species did not, aside from that she had the standard black body feathers and white collar feathers. She didn't like how this situation felt, but was forced to keep a smile at all times.

"If the company says this is for the best, it probably is," she muttered to herself as she opened the door to her dorm.

Once inside her dorm she went up to a drawer and pulled out a framed document, her contract with the current queen, and promptly put it under her arm and took a box under the frame and carried it out of the well kept room, but before closing the door she looked back into the room soaking all of the details. She closed the door behind her as she walked out to the main wing of the manor.

The manor was only a minor house within the grounds of the royal property along with it there was also the garden, and the castle. The grounds were properly kept by castle staff and the various amounts of butlers and maids, to the right of the manor was the royal garden, the kingdom's main source of tourism as it had many exotic flowers, herbs, and spices it not only supplies the kingdom with it's fruits, it also carries a great fragrance that spans across the entire kingdom. If you didn't smell any food around, then the garden's aroma would be there.

Once the maiden reached the castle's main gate she entered and went straight towards her master's quarters. Upon reaching the hallway outside of the queen's room, she encountered her master there.

"Your highness, I have brought the items you desire," the maiden bowed,

"Good, is everything on your end all set?" the queen replied,

"Yes, your highness," the maiden said while keeping her stance, the queen smiled at this.

"Prepare our transport, we will be traveling to Chun-Nan for the wager matches," the queen said as she turned around while the maiden scurried off to complete her new orders.


	4. Chapter 4

A day passed since the call for the meeting was broadcasted, the doctor simply looked onto the table the front of him. All of his current bosses had arrived, plus one more, all of them sitting in their respective seats. He started to look around from left to right: Clove, Cassia (he insisted that if she could help along with his project), Mordred, Maw, Thunderbolt (who could not sit still for even for a second around him), Abyss, Kukku, Axel, Tundra, Akhlut ,Nephthys, and finally Conquering Storm. They all were either looking upset, bored, asleep, or some mixture of it.

"Well," everyone's attention was shifted towards him, "all of you are wondering why I have asked for you to be here, along with the materials I have asked you to send me," he started.

"And why do you need all of this stupid stuff?" Cassia questioned rather abruptly,

"DO NOT QUESTION LORD EGGMAN'S PLANS!" Thunderbolt jumped up to defend her master, "By all means his plans are better than what you could ever think up!"

"Now, now Thunderbolt, that wouldn't be necessary, the reason why I need those materials is because I have a project that needs to be built," the doctor said as he fiddled with the table's hologram projector. The hologram soon turned into an image of a quite large house, "This is what I have in store for the materials, it will help build this, but do not worry you won't be building it. I have different plans for all of you," This time, the hologram turned into a stadium that had a banner saying 'Maiden Wager Matches' slowly rotating around in a circle.

"We will be going here to attend the event and gain a new member to our forces, so pack up your belongings! It will be quite the trip to Chun-nan!"

Grumbles were heard from Storm, she wasn't too pleased about this revelation. Eggman walked off to his command chair, to prepare a shuttle to take them to Storm's chapter. He noticed his two closest lackeys coming by,

"Orbot, Cubot, get the pawns to start building the manor this instant!" he commanded his robotic lackeys. A mere "Yes,sir" was uttered from them both as they started to travel in the opposite direction. Satisfied with the display before him, he walked back to the meeting,

"Well? What are you waiting for? GO!" he shouted to them as they scrambled about to get their belongings and getting a seat in the shuttle.

"Teams one and two, report your findings," Sally spoke into her radio transmitter.

"Nothin in here Sally-gal, only scrap heaps here," Bunnie responded first. Her task was to go along with Rotor, and Antoine to explore the ruins of the facility for clues on what activities went on during their first visit.

"Well the locals seem to know nothing about the facility except the explosion that happened. Some say that more dark gaia monsters started appearing after it though." Tails responded, looking back at Sonic who was in the middle of a crowd, showing off his skills in front of them.

Sally sighed on the other end, "This wasn't worth it guys, regroup at the Sky Patrol." Sally switched off the radio, Nicole appeared nearby,

"What's wrong Sally?" she questioned.

"Rotor was right about this Nicole," Sally started, "This was just a waste of time, we're needed somewhere else. Once everyone gets in, set the course for Chun-nan okay?"

"Very well, Sally," Nicole disappeared.

When everyone was at the meeting place, they sat down in a chair and started to listen on what people had to say.

"I told you that this was just a waste of time when we have the world to save!" Rotor basically yelled at Sally.

"I know what you said, its just I wanted to make sure that nothing bad was in there, I'm sorry."

Now there was an eerie silence in the room, Nicole appeared once again,

"Guys, theres chatter going on in the Eggnet, apparently theres some project going on, a construction of some kind, but there is other news that is more important." She reported,

"Eggman and his Eggbosses are going to Chun-nan to attend an event. After doing some research, its some sort of wager match for the contracts of several maids, I believe he is after the contract of a 'Head Maiden'. Said to be the very best when it comes to her job."

"Why would he want a maid?" Rotor questioned, "It doesn't even make sense."

"Heh, for the messes he makes!" Sonic joked, but no one laughed, or even smiled, too deep in thought over the possibilities of the outcome.

"We're going there," Rotor looked at Sally, "AFTER, we help the Chun-nan Freedom Fighters." Rotor nodded with that addition.

"Nicole, when is the event?"

"Tomorrow, Sally."

"Good, that'll give us time to help them out. Okay people! Let's go!"

Nicole started the Sky Patrol's engines as they turned to Chun-nan.


	5. Chapter 5

Pain.

A throbbing pain, located just above the eyes. This stirred the senses into making whoever this pain belongs to, to rise up.

The recipient fluttered it's eyes open before looking around, metal interior, sound of waves, the sound of an engine, was he on a boat?

He tried getting up to confirm his suspicions,

"Woah, there easy now!"

He snapped his head to the source of the voice, he saw a lynx standing beside him with his hands up.

"We found you in our lifeboat after you crashed landed in it, you were out for two days," said the lynx, "So what's your name?"

The figure paused, recollecting his thoughts and memories,

"Fang."

"So where ya from Fang?"

"From the lands where my family and clan fought Lupe and her tribe of wolves."

The lynx whistled, "Thats pretty far from we're going bud. You think you could give your family a call?"

"No, I don't know how they're doing, whether or not alive, I was sent out when a war was happening."

"Sent out? Sent out to where?" the lynx questioned.

"To a facility underground to make me better, faster, stronger."

"Should've made you smarter too," he muttered

"What?"

"What?"

Fang looked at the lynx in such a manner that told the lynx 'You just tried to lowkey fry me, I see how it is.'

Fang decided that now would be a good time to sit up and to prepare standing up once again. The lynx helped Fang's endeavor in becoming mobile again, maybe in some attempt to redeem himself to Fang. Once up on his legs once again, he wandered the ship's main deck to gain a view on this 'Chun-nan', but all he saw was water. Up ahead the water seemed to form a bridge of some kind,

'Why is there a water bridge?' Fang thought, 'And why is there no one but me and this other guy?'

"I guess you may be wondering what is going on," the lynx started, "In truth I am the only one here, but it is for good reason. This boat belongs to the Freedom Fighters in Chun-nan, I run trades for them, so they can be supplied for every operation they have now and in the future."

'Pretty smart,' Fang thought to himself, he now saw a speck of a tower is the distance, slowly rising from the horizon.

"There's the port just ahead of us, after we land we'll be heading our separate ways. Good luck out there." the lynx added wistfully, "Shame that we didn't get to know each other better, but its probably for the best."

Soon the boat docked onto the port and Fang started to wander about the streets of Chun-nan, taking in the scenery, though there was a stadium that stood out.

'Maybe it's holding some kind of event?' he thought to himself as he approached and eventually entered.

"Okay team, we're here on asset denial, we are NOT going to let Eggman get this contract! If he does who knows what he'll send this maid to do, but if we get her instead, we'll have a valuable teammate in our fight against him." Sally explained to her team who was sitting in the many seats the limo had.

It was handy that they managed to find a depot of sorts that was currently rented by the company that was hosting the wager matches, what made the already convenient situation even more favorable was that the maids there recognized Sally and gave her and co. a free ride to the event in a limo driven by one of the maidens.

"So what do we do when Eggman shows up?" Bunnie asked,

"We try to stay out of trouble, but if we encounter him in the competition, then we'll make him regret he ever entered."

The limo drove on the three lane mountain pass in a calm manner, allowing the passengers to take a grand view of the scenery.

"Hey guys, we got company on our left," Sonic called out as everyone turned to see the cars,

"Eggman."

Buckled into her booster seat, Thunderbolt sat there contemplating on the events that have transpired. She should have been happy to carry out one of her lord's brilliant plans.

But there was one thing that stopped her,

"REEHEEHEE!"

She joined. That one Witchcarter that lord Eggman allowed to join in on this operation.

It bugged her to no end, but at least she was in company with the rest of the girls.

"Don't worry girls! We'll be there in no time!" Wendy shouted from the front seat inside of their SUV-sedan hybrid car. It allowed all seven of them to be all comfortable with enough space to themselves. Thunderbolt sat in the middle in the back seat beside Cassia and Clove, Wendy drove while Conquering Storm navigated from the passenger seat. Meanwhile in the trunk seats were Nephthys and Abyss playing some card game with Cassia and Clove. It didn't interest Thunderbolt as she more focused on what Eggman told them.

"To whoever wins the contract, gets to keep it as long as they want, but as long as you send the maid to work for me."

To Thunderbolt, this was redundant, as she was going to gift it to her lord as soon as she won the event. She peered onward towards her lord's magnificent car as it drove on the left side lane, it brought a smile to her face seeing this, as she will be the one who guards her lord's back while the others protect his front. But this view was ruined when she saw the limo to her right, the same limo containing the Freedom Fighters.

"Hostiles, right side!" she barked out as most of the girls looked right back at the Freedom Fighters that were looking onto them.

" , would you go a bit faster?"

"Yes, your highness."

On the road there was a Yellow-Orange luxury car that housed the Queen, her daughter and the Head Maiden. Many people knew about the Hive Kingdom and their rulers due to the royal family's large size. The Queen, Veronica, was quite the large specimen, easily reaching into Akhlut's size, her exoskeleton was rigid, some say that it was hard as steel, with a yellow and black scheme going over her torso and abdomen. Only under a grand blouse that enhanced her navy blue eyes. Many people knew of her diplomatic side, but few know about her effective combat techniques, being able to strike 50 times within one thrust of her four rapiers, which she wielded one in each of her four arms.

Her Daughter, Princess Pricilla, was similar. Not quite having her mother's size, or taste in bladed weaponry, but she had all the skills her mother has, as her mother taught her everything she knew. Pricilla's choice in weaponry was curved swords, broad scimitars, being able to employ the same technique as her mother to her scimitars made her just as, if not more dangerous as her mother.

The Head Maiden drove calmly in the middle lane with some traffic around their car. After the order was given she decided to show her driving skills as she pressed the pedal to the car's floor. She spotted a limo and three cars that blocked the lanes ahead.

"Your highness, there appears to be traffic ahead,"

"Make your way through it as you would with any other car on the street."

"Very well your highness,"

The maiden accelerated, changing gears, and taking to the inside lane before braking and fishtailing the car outward against the left turn.

Queen Veronica noticed that the maid's smile vanished, or rather transferred itself onto her own face as she knew that nothing will stop the maiden from getting to their destination.

'Let's see who are the competitors this year,' she thought to herself as she looked outward onto the stadium in the distance.


	6. Chapter 6

The Egg-convoy and the limo were dangerously close to one another, both sides waited to see if anyone would make a move. A hairpin turn was getting closer by the second.

"Escorts! Prepare to ram!" Eggman ordered, "We'll make them fly off the cliff!"

"Yes, sir!" replied Wendy and Axel.

But before anyone could do anything, the limo took the outside lane, confusing everyone in the process. Then everyone heard an engine that was different from all the rest, then they saw the car, the same yellow car carrying the royal family sped by in between them, just to drift along the hairpin and continues to speed up. After this everyone went silent.

The limo went back into the center lane to continue driving, the convoy thought it wise to do the same.

"Eggman to convoy, respond." he began

"Escort one reporting," Axel talked into the radio,

"Escort two here," Wendy replied,

"Pullover, we're taking a much needed rest to re equip ourselves,"Eggman finished.

When the limo arrived, the Freedom Fighters got out and looked around, seeing all kinds of people that gathered to win a contract with a maid or some other thing. They looked to each other and nodded, entering the stadium. Once inside they saw how the stadium was decorated, banners up showing the various tables there was to gamble for a contract. Ranging from rock-paper-scissors to various forms of casino games.

There was a table in the far left side of the interior with a banner on the table.

"Entries for Head Maiden Competition" Tails read out loud, everyone started to walk towards the maid who was tending the table.

"Are all of you going to enter?" the maid questioned,

"Yes, all of us are going to enter," Sally replied.

The maid then took out a box from under the table and one by one she took out and handed the team a form on a clipboard.

"Please read through the forms carefully."

After everyone filled the form and turned it in they were instructed to go to the waiting area. Having to follow the signs that lead them to a room filled with chairs, some with occupants. From the few other competitors there was two large wasps, a panther, and strangely a chest who were sitting in two different sides of the room staring at one another. When the team stepped in the three people turned to them and kept their stare until they sat down. It wasn't long until more people came in.

The entirety of Eggman's Eggbosses came in first before the Eggman himself sat in the middle of them, simply just staring into Sally's team with his grand smile. It stayed like this until an announcement came in and interrupted the silence.

"Competitors, please head to the doubles doors. The event is about to start soon." The double doors soon opened, and one by one people went out of them, onto the arena. Everyone looked around as there was quite a huge crowd of people cheering on for them.

"Attention everyone," the PA in the arena started, "Due to an uneven amount of competitors this year, we will be filling the last slot. Everyone please welcome the Head Maiden onto the arena."

The crowd roared with excitement, as it was rare for the head maiden herself to participate in the event.

"I bet shes just full of hot air!" Amy huffed,

"WUOAH, AMY!" Sonic practically shouted as he quickly spun around, "When did you get here?!"

"What are you talking about Sonic?" Amy questioned, "I was always here!"

"She was Sonic," Sally confirmed,

Sonic looked on confused, 'How did I not notice?' Sonic thought.

"Aww, is my little Sonikku worried about me?" Amy puckered as she drew closer to him,

"No! I mean yes! Augh, you know what I mean!" Sonic said clearly flustered at the thought.

"This isn't the time for that Romeo," Knuckles chuckled to himself,

"You're here too!"

"That's right, me, the fight freak Knuckles, who's tougher than leather"

"Whatever you say Knucklehead!"

"You're like this because you know it's true!"

"You wish!"

"Everyone please look onto the board for everyone's standings in the tournament!" the announcer proclaimed.

"The first match is…Tails versus Bunnie! Would the fighters please step into the ring!"

Tails and Bunnie went up into the ring, going to their respective side.

"You know sugah, I ain't plannin on losing!" Bunnie said as she got into her stance,

"Me neither, especially after that tournament!" Tails replied as he readied himself.

"On the ringing of the bell, the match will start!" The maiden announcer warned the two,

"Three!"

Bunnie readied her arm blaster,

"Two!"

Tails started spinning his name sakes,

"One!"

Both squinted at each other, focusing on their opponent's movements,

DING!


	7. Chapter 7

Tails flew straight in front of him, into the laser that Bunnie had just fired, at the last moment he dodged the laser and ducked the arm swipe that she resorted to, with this new opening he made, he jumped up uppercutting Bunnie. As she staggered back from the blow, Tails flew up in a loop to gain enough speed to slam Bunnie into the ground.

"So thats the way you play now sugah," Bunnie got up and dusted herself, "Two can play that game."

Tails looked back in shock, now just realizing what he had done, but that moment was cut short when Bunnie landed a straight punch that was carried by her rocket boosters. The force of the punch made Tails sail back into the ring wall, dazed and weakened from the attack, he tried his best to get up on his feet. Bunnie saw this and used her boosters to perform a somersault and land on Tail's head, knocking him out of the fight.

"A total beatdown performed by Bunnie! Medical teams please do escort Tails out of the arena." The announcer boomed, gesturing to the screen above her as she walked forward, sporting a simple maid uniform. On the screen were the standings for the entire tournament, everyone saw who were going to face off in the future, but everyone had their attention to the most latest match.

"CREAM!?" Most of the Freedom Fighters screamed at once, "Why is Cream there!?"

As it was true, that little Cream was on the screen, facing against one of Eggman's very own Abyss, the ruler of the southern oceans.

"Hi everyone!" The sweet little rabbit waved, now wearing her sports clothing from the time she participated in the Extreme Gear tournament.

"Cream, where is Cheese?" Sally questioned.

"He's on his way," she smiled.

The Freedom Fighters were in shock about Cream fighting one of Eggman's top warriors without her pet Cheese, but they weren't the only ones in shock.

'I'm fighting a kid,' Abyss thought, 'I'm fine with taking things from them, but beating them up?' she slowly shook her head with the thought.

"Hi !" Cream stood on her toes while waving,

"H-Hey kid," Abyss waved back, "Just don't cry when this is over okay?"

Cream stared blankly, "Okay!" she said cheerfully.

DING

The bell sounded, and Cream pulled out a box.

"This is for you !"

"Uh, thanks?" she replied, taking the gift and opening it, revealing a giant cookie inside, "A cookie? For me?"

"Yes! I worked hard all morning baking this one, it'll be a shame if someone didn't eat it." Cream said while kicking the ground with her hands behind her back.

It took both of Abyss's hands to get a good grip on the cookie,

'I guess I could enjoy it, I mean she DID just gift it to me.'

With a shrug she took a bite out of the cookie. 'This isn't half bad,' she thought to herself while munching on the cookie, as she tried to pull away from the cookie she realized that the cookie itself was to her beak and hands. She felt the sticky resin from the cookie that kept her from pulling away. She then heard someone sniffing, or was it crying? She turned to Cream who was indeed crying.

"Oh Cheese, this is terrible!" Cream wailed to her little blue chao, "That mean squid-lady took the cookie and ate it!"

'Wait, WHAT!?'

She proceeded to cry further, the chao however saw Abyss. Only mumbles came out of her mouth in a desperate attempt to defend herself, as the large cookie blocked most sound. The chao was not having it, and charged at full speed to her. Abyss tried to use her tentacles to either shoot the chao or block it, unfortunately, she was too slow to do either as the chao landed a direct hit on her forehead.

She saw the world spin before staring at the ceiling, vision soon fading. She managed to look at Cream one last time before her blackout.

Cream had on the sweetest, most innocent smile Abyss had ever seen.

'Truly a face of pure evil,' was the last thought before Abyss lost consciousness under a pile of cookie shards.

"A one hit knockout by little with the assistance of her pet, Cheese!" The announcer said, as Cream and Cheese bowed repeatedly for the cheering crowd.

"Sorry for the delay, but here are the standings for the tournament!" the announcer called out while pointing to the screen.

From top to bottom were the contestants: Tails (Eliminated), Bunnie, Cream, Abyss (Eliminated), Clove, Hood, Maw, Axel, Sally, , The Chest, Dulcy, Storm, Thunderbolt, Knuckles, Tundra, Jian, Wendy, Akhult, Nephthys, Sonic, Queen Veronica, Fang, Amy, Kukku, Big, The Head Maiden, Rotor, Princess Pricilla, Cinder, Antoine, and lastly Cassia.

Clove sighed, 'At least Cass has time to prepare,' she smiled that Cassia would be safe from combat, at least for a while. She began to plan out how the fight will go, she only saw him fight once with him relying on his ability quite heavily.

'I'll have to immobilize him,' she thought.

"Excuse me," she asked the Head Maiden,

"Yes?"

"Do you know the conditions on winning a match?"

The maiden smiled. "Of course, the way to win a match is to either knockout, immobilize, or to win three rounds with an opponent."

"How do you win a round?"

"There are three minutes to a round. To win you must simply survive these three minutes with little to no injuries. The opponent can forfeit, but it will only count towards a round. Two forfeited rounds, and the person is replaced."

"Who replaces them?"

The maiden leaned forward, now wearing a toothy grin on her face with a shroud of an menacing aura.

"Me."

"Thank you," Clove said, trying to not fall for the scare tactic.

The maiden giggled, "I'll be seeing you soon." She walked away from a now scared Clove.


	8. Chapter 8

"Contestants onto the stage!" the declaration was made as Clove stepped into the ring. Hood did the same. They stared at each other for a minute before Clove spoke up:

"Only one of us has to win this, we don't need to cause unneeded injuries."

"True, but I believe I am the most capable of us," Hood got into his stance.

"We'll see about that," Clove got her laser scythe ready.

DING

With the ringing of the bell, Clove charged forwards, hoping to slice one of Hood's mechanical legs. She already had her swing started ready to end it as soon as it began, but Hood beat her to it.

"SUBMIT!" he hissed, activating his ability on her.

Clove was forced to stop running, pain coursing through her head, the pain too much to ignore. Sure that Clove stopped, but the scythe didn't. The momentum carried the laser blade to Hood's right knee, the sudden failure of his right knee drove him onto the ground facing upwards breaking his concentration.

'I have to reapply the effect befo-' his thought was cut short when he saw Clove pulling back her scythe for an overhead stab, she started to swing until,

"I SURRENDER! I GIVE UP! JUST PLEASE DON'T!" he screamed, covering his face with his arms.

"Well ladies and gentlemen," the announcer began, Hood sighing in relief that he was spared.

"Looks like we'll be heading to round two!"

Hood eyes widened to dinnerplate size, "WHAT?! THERE'S ROUNDS?!" he yelled, with his voice cracking at the end.

"Of course there are!"

Hood snapped to the voice behind him, the Head Maiden was there behind him, or rather his end of the ring, sporting the same uniform sans modifications.

"Since you forfeited this round, you'll have to wait a minute into the second before calling it in again."

"B-B-But I don't want to fight!" Hood stammered, "Can't I just get out now?" He begged mentally, he did not want to get sliced in half by that laser scythe.

"Sorry, but rules are rules." the maiden finished, she took a step back to get a better view of the ring.

Back at Clove's corner, Cassia was there bouncing up and down at her sister's performance.

"Sis! You really need to do something about him!" Cassia urged, "You practically did nothing to him!"

"Cass," Clove turned to her sister, "I did, I stabbed his knee."

"After he got you with his mind control, you need to do more! Slice him in half or something!"

Clove looked uneasy as she beckoned her Cassia to come near.

"Look, what if we don't win this thing? If that happens Eggman would order us to take the contract by force, we'll be understaffed if that happens." Clove whispered into Cassia's ear.

"But what you said is true, I need to knock him out before he forfeits this round."

"Why? Does he get replaced?"

"Yes, by the Head Maiden herself," Clove pointed to the maid behind Hood.

"That's her?" Cassia questioned, to her the maid seemed, oddly enough, familiar to her.

'I'll go see if it is her.' she thought.

"Well, good luck Sis!" Cassia blurted out before darting to the maid's direction.

Clove sighed, she'll have to end this and fast, or else gain first hand experience from fighting a head maiden.

On the screen above was the timer until the round, essentially being the countdown for the two fighter's break period. As they rested Cassia went up to the Head Maiden.

"Um, excuse me?" Cassia cursed herself for being timid at a time like this.

"Yes?" the maiden turned to face Cassia, who was an inch or two shorter than her.

"I-I-I-I j-j-ust w-wanted to know i-if this was really y-you." She pulled out a book and pointed to the cover, hands and arms shaking intensely. She hated how she sounded just now, how her very own hands were betraying her as she felt the book could slip out of her hands any second.

The maid took the book to examine it carefully, flipping and even opening it to read some of it's contents, she then giggled.

Cassia's train of thought got derailed. Did she mistake the maid? Did she just made a fool of herself in front of so many people? Cassia was on the brink of panicking from how big of a screw up she made.

"Oh my, I didn't think anyone actually read them. And to answer your question, Yes, that maid really was me. Now would you like for me to autograph it?"

Cassia instantly shot up, "Yes please!" Her digital pupils turning into stars, clearly showing her newfound excitement this new revelation. The maiden couldn't help but smile, she enjoyed making children happy. She handed back the book to it's owner, "Have a nice day!"

"I will thanks!" Cassia said as she ran off to where her group is.

"Okay! Contestants up and center!" the hostess said as the two fighters came close to the center of the ring. Clove had her mind set, the only problem is if Mordred had a chance to forfeit then all of her work would be for nothing as the Head Maiden could easily wipe her out. She planned for this attack, she can't afford to lose this chance.

Meanwhile, Hood had other plans.

'I'll just have to dodge and weave through her attacks, I can't let her lay a finger on me! Or else I'm on the ground again begging for my life! My mind control is the only thing that can save me!' he thought, he needed his concentration on predicting his foe's first move.

'I hope I got this right.'

DING

Within the first three seconds of the round Hood leap backwards, careful to not put too much weight on his right leg, just as Clove swung her scythe at his torso, resulting with a gash than a total dismemberment. Mordred looked on his torso with agony, it took him so long to polish that! Clove took this moment to swing again, this time with more force in hopes of a faster swing. Hood saw this and tried to block, only to have the blade go into his left shoulder, now he had to compensate for two failing cyborg limbs. Clove pulled the blade out, having the benefit of her blade never getting stuck on anything, now making Hood's entire left arm on the brink of falling from it's socket.

Now Hood started to panic, at this rate he could potentially get killed! He peered onto the screen timer, only 15 seconds had passed! He started to run, limping all the way to help buy some time for himself. Clove chased him down, it wasn't hard due to her species being the second fastest land animal on the planet, the only trouble she had was that she kept missing her swings toward his left leg. Getting frustrated with every miss, she went for the hip, severing his upper body with his legs. Hood desperately tried to drag himself forward, but Clove pinned him to the ground ready for the last strike.

"PLEASE! STOP! NO MORE, PLEASE!" Hood cried out, being scared to the point of tears. Clove's eyes widened, she turned to the screen it read 1:59. She was too late, panic started settling in.

"Looks like Mordred Hood will be replaced by the Head Maiden in round three!" The maid happily announced, jumping into the air. The crowd started cheering louder for the maiden and her upcoming battle.

'Nononononononono, this can't be happening, this can't be happening,' she thought but some of those thoughts escaped and became whispers to herself she got to her corner, slowly becoming a heap of panic and anxiety.

"Sis!" Cassia came by, hoping to help her sister in this dire situation. Two others came along with her, Nephthys, and Storm. Cassia soon gripped both sides of Clove's head, forcing her to look at Cassia.

"You need to pull it together!" she spoke through her clenched teeth. The only response was a mess of stutterings on the word 'but'. Cassia couldn't stand this any longer, she pulled her sister's head back while also rearing her head. Then she violently pulled back to headbutt her sister, quite a sound was made of the impact, causing Nephthys to look in disbelief.

"Get a grip already! You got this!" Cassia shook Clove's head as she spoke.

"Look at what you have Clove," Storm decided to cut in, "your scythe has the ability to cut through nearly everything. Even if that maid wears armor you'll cut through it. Plus with your speed, you're nearly unstoppable, look at how Mordred is!"

"They're right, you have nothing to worry about Clove," Nephthys, who was starting to feel left out, finally spoke up.

Clove thought back at the events, she did just turned Mordred into scrap. She really does have this in the bag.

"Thank you, all of you," Clove spoke as she brought Cassia closer to her.

"It's what sisters do Sis." Cassia replied as she hugged Clove.

Having witnessed this, the maid in question now had second thoughts on her initial choice of action. She headed upon the main stage where the announcer is.

"Ah, Head Maiden!" the hostess spoke up, causing the crowd to go silent.

"How can I help you?" she says while bowing,

"I have a dilemma: I can't decide on whether or not to cosplay for this battle." The Head Maiden said while the crowd all 'ooh'ed the proposition. For those who do not understand this, the Head Maiden cosplays usually alter the fight drastically, from soundtrack to the very stage the fight takes place on. The Maiden has cosplayed at least once in every wager match, the most so far was five in one tournament. The cosplay is decided by a giant wheel containing each cosplay, though there are variations in each cosplay, that will be decided at random.

"Then, we'll decide on coin flip!" the hostess said. She got a basic coin, one side was yes, the other no. " And here we go!" tossing the coin up into the air, letting it land on the ground before them, the coin said: NO.

"Well there we have it! No cosplay!" she said while the audience groaned from disappointment. "But there is a next time! For now the main focus is: Will Clove survive a round with the Head Maiden?"

The Head Maiden went onto the ring, took Mordred's side and waited for Clove to ready up. Clove got into her stance, while the maid did nothing.

'Does she really think I'm some kind of push over?' Clove thought, for all she knew was that this maid she was put up against could very well just be a phony, and she was going to prove it.

"Let the round begin!" the hostess said before hitting the bell herself. Clove swung the blade with all her might, testing the maid on how brave she really was. The Maiden stood still, seemingly out of it as the laser blade came ever closer to her head, but at the last second the maid did something Clove wouldn't ever guess. The Maiden backhanded the staff of the scythe, but what really surprised her was the force behind it, it nearly made Clove lose her balance, the blade is now where it once started, behind her. The sudden jolt of the motion sprained her right arm, with the blade behind her she was wide open. The maid took her left arm, lifted it, and quickly punched the underside of it making the joint pop of it's socket. Before Clove could scream out in pain, her mouth had been covered and she was slammed onto the ground.

"Please don't scream out in pain," The maiden bent over, "It'll only make it worse for you." The maiden then walked off. "Now, get up."

Clove struggled to lift herself up, but she managed to get on her feet. Blade in her left hand, she takes a defensive stance that gives her enough space to out zone the maid. The maid stepped forward, making Clove lash out, but the maid dived and rolled under the swipe to uppercut Clove, making her stagger. With this opportunity the maid pulled back her fist to drive it into Clove's face. The hit caused Clove to spin and land face first into the ground. As Clove tried to get up, the maid pinned her pelvis with her right while kicking Clove's left inner thigh with the maid's left foot. The kick made Clove's hip pop out of it's socket, making Clove scream out in pain.

"Get up." the maid repeated.

All of brutal display of fighting physically hurt Cassia, seeing her sister on the ground in so much pain, by the same person she looked up to. She was on the verge of tears, feeling conflicted and just wanting all of it to stop. The timer seemed to disagree, showing that it still had a minute left, a minute too long.

Clove managed to get up, in a mess of pain, snot, and tears. She was holding onto her scythe for dear life, as it was the only other support she had to stand on. The maid simply smiled, as she then sent a kick into Clove's right knee. Cassia saw how her leg twisted and buckled into some abomination of a leg as Clove fell facing straight up. Cassia couldn't bear any of it any longer and started crying, the other Eggbosses came to console her.

Clove's mind was blank from the pain, she was on the very edge of blacking out. She wanted to black out so it can all be over, but she knew she couldn't. She couldn't risk getting Cassia into any trouble. She looked back at the Head Maiden before her, she had the scythe.

"Points to you for not blacking out, I like that." She began, "but it's time to reap this harvest."

She pulled back the scythe, Clove simply closed her eyes accepting that she would be killed, she heard the swooshing of the scythe.

DING

"Round over! Clove wins!" the hostess said.

Clove opened her eyes, seeing the blade just an inch from the right side of her face, being able to hear the electric hum of the blade. The Head Maiden wasn't pleased, pouting with cheeks full of air while crossing her arms. She then picked Clove up, carried her, and then set her down on a chair.

"What are you doing?" She asked,

"Fixing you up," the maid said, the ill feelings gone from her being.

"You can't just fix this,"

The maiden hmphed, "I can, and I will. You just watch me." She said as she started to relocate Clove's knee.


End file.
